JOIN USIPL III gets clean chit from ICC
Addressing a press conference here, Condon, former Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, said there was nothing to suggest that there was any corruption in IPL III despite rumours. “IPL III seems to have been a very clean event,” Condon told reporters at Lord’s.
“There were some rumours and vague allegations about match-fixing but no one from within the Indian board, the IPL, the franchises, journalists or players came with any specific allegations about match-fixing in the IPL. All there has been is a generic rumour,” said Condon who would be succeeded by British police offical Ronnie Flanagan from July 1.
IPL Governing Council employed ACSU only in the third edition while having some other arrangements in the first two years. Condon’s verdict should come as a welcome piece of news for the Board of Control for Cricket in India, which has been grappling with several issues connected with IPL in recent weeks.
Condon said ACSU was investigating Pakistan’s tour of Australia, especially the Sydney Test in which the Asian team lost from an advantageous position. “There has been an ongoing investigation since the time, because it is a series that worried us,” Condon said.
“We spent a lot of time talking to the players and the PCB but part of the challenge is to find where the solid fact is.
“...We are satisfied that that was a totally dysfunctional tour from a Pakistani point of view and that dysfunctionality in the dressing room led to players not performing well and maybe making them potentially underperform deliberately.
“What we still need to establish is whether...it was something more serious, doing it for a financial fix,” Condon said.
“We are working very closely with the PCB but at the moment it is a flurry of allegation, rather than any hard fact. The investigations at the time suggested it was more about a dysfunctional team, rather than match-fixing. But it is a live inquiry,” he added.